[Salz]

Hi All,

I believe that I have been suffering with Lupus for quite sometime now but never have been diagnosed with it.

2006 I gave birth to my still born son who I carried to almost full term. 2008 I gave birth to healthy baby boy Thanks to the hospital keeping a close eye on me. During the pregnancy they ran some tests and said that I had Lupus and were treating it with Thyroxine, but when i gave birth the treatment stopped and there was no mention about it again, until now.

I had been to my doctor complain of body aches and tingles, feeling of being tired all the time even when I've had a good sleep, can not loose weight and am putting on a kilo every fortnight and depression.

My doctor ran some tests that showed that I had an Autoimmune disease and he sent me to Immunology clinic to see a specialist.

Today the specialist, said that I have a varient type of Lupus. I was under the understanding that there are 2 types - SLE and DLE. Are there other forms of Lupus and what are they?

I am frustrated cause he wouldn't give much information and requested that i have more tests done. The tests that he has requested is
- Anti - ENA by imnuroblotting (R052 autoantibodies)
-Ige
-Ch50
-Thyroid autoantibodies

Does anyone have a clue what he is searching for and what the test would tell or are for??

Any information would be appreciated
Thanking you

 

[Katharine]

Hello and :welcome:

I'm not surprised you're confused...

I'm sorry to hear that you had such problems during your pregnancy and the loss of your son.

There seems to be some confusion here between lupus and a thyroid problem. It is perfectly possible to have both and quite a few people here do but they are not the same thing, nor are they treated the same way.

Thyroxine is used to treat under active thyroid (hypothyroid, hashimotos). That causes many overlap symptoms with lupus including extreme fatigue, depression and things like pins and needles in limbs. It also causes weight gain (weight gain is less common in lupus) and can cause problems in pregnancy if left untreated.

I would say that your doctor is looking to confirm auto-immune thryoid problems and possibly dig a little deeper. I'm wondering why he mentioned lupus as I'm not sure that you have that many typical lupus symptoms but perhaps there are more that you haven't mentioned...

These two links might help you to see if you have typical lupus symptoms (SLE). One is the list of classification criteria that help docs look at the whole picture.

http://uklupus.co.uk/isitlupus.html

http://www.thelupussite.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33123

I hope that helps a little, bye for now,

Katharine

 

[greenhaggis]

Hi and welcome to the site!

First of all sorry for the loss of your son!

Things do seem to be a little unclear with what you have and what is being tested!

As Katharine has said take a look at the criteria for Lupus to see if anything matches with any of your symptoms.

You need to be clear and assertive with your Immunologist when you next see them! Ask what it is you may/or may not have and what all the tests are for!

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

 

[Lily]

Hi Sally,

There does seem to be some confusion about just what was going on before and also what you are being investigated for now. I hope you get some answers soon, when do you go back to see the Immuno?

The ENA test they are running helps them decide just which autoimmune connective tissue disease they are looking to rule in or out. It consists of 7 tests in all, this link will explain a bit more about it.

http://www.rcpamanual.edu.au/sections/pathologytest.asp?s=33&i=835

IgE is a test to see whether you are a very allergic person.

CH50 is testing your compliment system (part of your immune system).

The thyroid antibody test is self explanatory.

I wonder if your anti-nuclear antibody test came back positive and they are just checking to see what is going on by running these further tests. Sometimes ANA can be low positive with autoimmune thyroid disease.

Did you take a look at the links? Lupus is diagnosed with a combination of symptoms and blood work.

Do let us know how you get along.

love
Lily